David Moyes has revealed he once applied to register an Everton reserve team to play in the Conference in an attempt to enhance the development of the club's young players.

The Chelsea manager, André Villas-Boas, restarted the debate over producing more homegrown talent this week when claiming England should follow Spain's example of allowing top-flight clubs to field second teams in the lower leagues. That avenue, Moyes admitted on Friday, was explored by Everton several years ago but was deemed a non-starter following discussions with the Football Association.

Moyes said: "Four or five years ago I tried to put an Everton reserve team into the Conference because it would have been better football for them. My plan was to use Widnes's stadium as the home ground and that when Everton were playing away the B team would have played in the Conference there. I thought the games would have been better, more competitive and more realistic for the players. But we would have had to have gone into division nine of the North-west Outer Counties League or whatever you want to call it and it would have taken 10 or 11 years to get through."

The Everton manager believes the Conference would have benefited from increased crowds and that to field a second team any higher would be "unfair" and against the tradition of the game in this country. His motivation was to move young players into a routine that mirrored that of the first team, rather than the current schedule of midweek reserve fixtures.

"Because the games would tend to be on a Saturday or a Sunday the young players would be able to follow the same programme as the senior ones. The training week is similar and the players can do similar work," Moyes explained. "When your reserve games are Tuesday or Wednesday night it makes it difficult to follow programmes and your weekends become difficult because the younger players may have to come with the first team but not play. Before you know it you have young boys missing training sessions and, first and foremost, we have to make sure their development is right."

Moyes is considering a deal for the United States international Edson Buddle after the striker, who currently plays for Ingolstadt in the German second division, spent this week on trial at Everton. "We will talk about it over the weekend," added the Everton manager. "I would like to add if I can. We are certainly short at centre-half right now and I have always said that if we can get a centre-forward in then that would be great."